My name is James, and I like to understand things. Back when I taught students, I learned the hard but universal lesson: you only understand something when you've taught it to others. Now, when I'm learning something, I write articles as if I was teaching it to an earlier me -- as a side benefit, other people have found these articles helped them understand!

I write these guides for the "Journeyman" audience: people who know how and why to use something, but want a deeper understanding about a particular aspect. Developing a mental model of how a tool works (even simplified!) allows one to reason through novel scenarios and find more effective and efficient solutions. In these articles, I'll explore aspects of some tools I use, building up these types of mental models.

You can also find me on Github ( jagill) and LinkedIn ( jagill)